Q&A for: 19-Nov-05
1074. Q:
mike, i don't like the way the questions are now categorized. it should be like before. i think others agree too.
A:
Not sure which aspect of the site you have in mind. Give me a little more detail and I'll see what I can do :) My next idea is to have features like 'Teens wanting to lose weight' or 'Guys bulking up' where I'd put all the good Q&As dealing with that subject. That might help out with classification a bit.
1075. Q:
are cigarettes good appetite suppressors? do cigarettes make people lose weight or something? i heard my teacher say this, but i'm not so sure if she's correct. what do you think?
A:
Nicotine, the active ingredient in tobacco, is a mild stimulant and it is true that smokers on average weigh less than non-smokers. However that small difference in weight pales in comparison to the damage you are doing to your body by smoking. A person who wants to lose weight or get fit will be far more successful achieving it through a healthy diet and exercise than through smoking.
1076. Q:
hi mike im the guy from Q.975 , 976 and i forgot to tell you my diet , usually before i work out in the morning i would usually skip my breakfast and when i finish my work out which is around 11-12 i would immediately eat my lunch i would not eat any fried stuff , mostly i would boil my food instead of frying and i would hardly snack and ill eat my dinner at around 7-8 and my dinner usually consist of 1 serving of meat , vegetables and fruit and not to forget rice , mike do you think this is a healty way of eating and is a little snacking good for your heath ? By the way im losing around 1kg everyweek or every 2 weeks so i think it is good as you said its best to lose 1kg every week etc etc
A:
No, I don't think you're doing the right thing with losing weight. If you go back and read Q&A #976 I'm telling you to NOT lose weight! It's a bad bad bad idea at your age. My usual advice to lose 1 pound (1 pound = 0.5 kg) per week is meant for people who are done growing, certainly somebody older than 16. You're just 14 and you have AT LEAST two years of growth in front of you. At 128 pounds you are obviously not overweight and even you yourself say that you're fit. By losing weight now you're risking your future growth and development. And all that for a tiny bit of extra fat around the face?! Totally doesn't make sense.
It's great that you exercise and are so physically active. But you should eat accordingly too! Never ever skip breakfast -- it's the most important meal of the day! If you want to have a healthy breakfast, base it around plain old-fashioned oatmeal and some fruit for taste. Your lunch and dinner sound fine and snacking can be perfectly healthy too if you snack on good stuff like carrots or dry-roasted nuts instead of chips and M&Ms. But the most important thing is that you should stop trying to lose weight. Give your body healthy nutrition, stay physically active, and let your natural continuing growth take care of whatever little extra fat is there. If you work with your body you will grow fit, healthy, and strong. If you work against it, like you're doing now, you may not grow in any of those things. So please stop losing weight, eat more healthy foods and don't skip breakfasts!
1077. Q:
im 4'11 and 155 thats alot aint it!! am i fat?
A:
Well, you are a bit overweight. A good weight range for your height is 100-125 pounds. But if you're under 16, then the very good news is that it's very easy to go from overweight to healthy just by growing! If you grow to be 5'7, for example, then the same 155 pounds will be a perfectly healthy weight at that height. And if you get to be 5'10 or taller, then you'll actually be quite lean at 155 pounds! So if you are a teenager you should NOT try to lose weight now, but instead start eating healthy and being physically active in any way you can. And then just let your continuing growth transform you from overweight to healthy and fit!
If you are an adult and are not going to grow any more, then you may want to consider taking up a good diet and exercise program to lose some weight. I describe how to do it in a healthy way here. Just don't go on starvation diets or any other such crazy program -- those never work and will only leave you in a worse condition.
1078. Q:
I heard about a thing from my friend calles 'flushing your system' which is when you only eat fuits and some vegetables and drink only water for 3 days. It sounds like it can get rid of all the toxics and junk thats in your stomach. Do YOU think it works?
A:
I know people who believe in this approach. I personally don't have an opinion on it one way or another. My approach is to be physically active and eat healthy in the first place, so there's no 'junk' in your system that needs flushing. But you could do a lot worse than eat a lot of fruit and veggies for three days, so it certainly shouldn't hurt you. Just do make sure to eat plenty of those fruits and veggies so you don't lose too much weight quickly. Try it, see if it makes you feel better than you did before, and you'll learn something about what works or doesn't work for your body which is always a good thing.
1079. Q:
I was wondering, does the frosting or honey added on cheerios make it unhealthy?
A:
Frosting is just sugar and has absolutely no redeeming qualities at all. Natural honey at least has some health benefits. If you have to decide between one or the other, go with honey (buy honey and add it yourself, not use prepackaged 'honey cheerios'). Even better however: switch from cheerios to plain old-fashioned oatmeal and add fruits, berries, cinnamon, or that same honey to it for taste -- that would be a truly healthy meal!
1080. Q:
Are the exercises that people do boot camp to extreme for me to do at my house, are they good for me?
A:
Almost all exercises are great for you in moderation and bad for you in excess (leading to injuries and lack of progress). So knowing how much is too much is key. Between weights and cardio about 1 hour per day of exercise is what you want. Standard bodyweight exercises like pushups, pullups, lunges, etc. can be combined together to make up a very effective at-home exercise program such as this.
1081. Q:
Hey Mike, what is metabolism, and how do i find mine?
A:
Your metabolism is the sum of all the millions of processes that happen in your body. More to the point of weight loss or muscle gain, your metabolism is how much energy your body uses to maintain itself. The higher your metabolism, the more energy your body burns daily just to keep itself going. The higher your metabolism is, the more calories your body needs and the easier it is for you to burn fat.
The closest thing to putting a number on metabolism is the amount of calories you eat daily without gaining or losing weight (though this is not the whole story). If, for example, you are a 150-pound man and need to eat over 3000 calories daily just to maintain your weight, then your metabolism is certainly high. Or, if you are a 140-pound woman and need to eat only 1000 calories to maintain your weight, then your metabolism is low.
Your metabolism is determined by many factors, but the two big factors that are entirely in your control are diet and exercise. Everything I've written on this site is meant to help you keep your metabolism. Eating right and exercising, ESPECIALLY weight training boosts your metabolism. Starving yourself, eating junk food, and not exercising at all or overexercising too much depresses your metabolism.
1082. Q:
I am on a diet, is it ok to have something unhealthy once in a while, and how much can i have of it?
A:
It's all just a matter of your priorities. 'Cheating' once a week won't hurt your progress almost at all. If it keeps you sane, go for it. Cheating every day is a lot more questionable. But in the end it's still up to you -- you decide how much eating sweets or whatever is really worth to you in terms of progress towards being more healthy and fit. Everyone will have a different answer to that and only you can decide how much or how little cheating on your diet is right for you.
1083. Q:
Hey mike, is tea good for me (i drink it in place of cofee). Also is hot coco unhealthy?
A:
Tea is a great beverage, just don't sweeten it or at least use very very little sugar. Most hot cocoa mixes, on the other hand, are usually full of sugar and are in no way good for you. Some no-sugar-added hot cocoa mixes are a little better.
1084. Q:
stomach toning exercises
A:
There is no such thing as stomach toning, despite what all the commercials claim. You can't target specifically stomach fat or any one other specific body part, either with diet or exercises. What you can do, however, is lose fat all over your body which will eventually lose it over the 'trouble areas' as well. I describe how to do that here.
1085. Q:
women stomach fat
A:
There is no such thing as stomach toning, despite what all the commercials claim. You can't target specifically stomach fat or any one other specific body part, either with diet or exercises. What you can do, however, is lose fat all over your body which will eventually lose it over the 'trouble areas' as well. I describe how to do that here.
1086. Q:
I am the same person. It cant be a coincidence since prevoius to working out at my training heart rate I hadnt lost any weight in 9 months. And I didnt add any other changes besides working out at 145 bpm.
A:
I've pretty much given you my thoughts on this and have nothing more to add. One thing that's clear is that your program needs a lot of improvement, either in exercise or in diet or both, because waiting 9 months to lose 2 pounds is not good at all.
1087. Q:
I ate 2 bananas, 2 oranges, 2 carrots, and a bowl of salad today. Is that healthy eating?
A:
All those foods individually are certainly very healthy, but taken together as a daily diet they're not good enough. First off, all that food together is maybe 600 calories at best (assuming your salad was just greens and no oil/dressing). 600 calories per day is way too little food for anyone. Even petite women shouldn't be eating less than 1200 calories or so daily, ESPECIALLY if the goal is to lose weight and fat! Very low-calorie diets like this will shut down your metabolism and with that your fat loss will shut down as well. You'll be losing a lot of muscle mass which will almost guarantee that you'll gain fat in the future since you'll have less of your best natural fat-burner (muscle).
This diet is also very low in protein and completely lacking in fats. Both protein and fat are very crucial to your success in losing weight and to your overall health as well. You can get protein from any lean meat or poultry or fish, eggs, cottage cheese, whey protein powder, beans or lentils, and nuts (so you have options for protein, even if you are a vegetarian!) You can get healthy fats from olive oil (great for salad), avocados, eggs, fatty fish such as salmon, nuts and seeds (just don't get oil-roasted varieties).
I can't tell you exactly how much you should be eating because you didn't tell me enough about yourself, but if you read my Nutrition article it'll point you to my fitness guide which can give you a sample diet and exercise program for weight loss. You can then customize that diet to suit your particular tastes and needs, but at least you'll know the ballpark figure for how much food you should be eating.
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